Significance,Progress and Tasks of New-type Urbanization Research

Urbanization is the most prominent comprehensive geographical process based on human activities in the surface of the Earth, with obvious interdisciplinary characteristics. In recent years, new urbanization has become an important frontier issue both at home and abroad. Urbanization is also one of the most important frontier interdisciplinary directions and one of the key research areas of geosciences. Future Earth, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the International Geographical Union’s Commission on Geography for Future Earth:Coupled Human-Earth Systems for Sustainability (IGU-GFE) all emphasize coupling relationship between urbanization and human-earth system and sustainable development. Based on the discussion of significance of urbanization research in interdisciplinary fields, this paper reviewed the progress of urbanization research and put forward challenges and opportunities of urbanization research, and its objectives and tasks. It is recommended to play the role of the multi-disciplinary cross-cutting characteristics and strengthen the scientific and technological support and basic research depth of urbanization in interdisciplinary fields. To face the international research frontier and meet China's major needs, we proposed the top-level design and scientific and technological layout for urbanization research as soon as possible so as to improve the influence, the right to speak and the initiative of China's urbanization research in the world and play the scientific and technological support role of basic research better to serve the country’s strategic needs.